Art | LACMA Features Rodarte: Fra Angelico Collection

LACMA Features Rodarte: Fra Angelico Collection

Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte’s gowns are the subject of a LACMA exhibition inspired by Italian art.

With a couture label that’s only 7 years old, Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte can hardly be expected to have their designs shown in museums. Yet the Pasadena-based sisters are already subject of a second exhibition from a major U.S. museum. Rodarte: Fra Angelico Collection, on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Italian Renaissance gallery through Feb. 5, features 10 gowns inspired by Italian art, including the frescoes of Fra Angelico and Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. Silk fabrics were draped and manipulated to give form, texture and tonal variety to the color palette inspired by the frescoes, and hand-forged gold metallic accessories such as a headpiece, breastplate and belts complete the gowns.